Loving You
by StillLovely
Summary: Nick never stopped loving Greg. One-shot Nick/Greg. SLASH, obviously.


I do not own CSI, or Nick and Greg. If I did, they'd be together already.

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"_I never want to see your face again! I hate you so much; I wish we'd never met. I never loved you, I never could, I never will. You're nothin' to me. Forget that we were ever together. Forget I existed."_

Greg woke with a start, tears filling his eyes abruptly. His heart nearly stopped as he thought of the last words Nick had said to him before he'd left. He closed his eyes and tried to forget about that day three weeks ago. The day Nick walked out that door and never came back. With a sigh, Greg got out of bed and padded to the kitchen, wiping the tears off his cheeks. As he filled the tea pot with water, his mind wandered back to that day.

"_Greg, who was that?"_

"_Just a friend. She's no one Nick, don't worry."_

"_Just a friend? You kissed her goodbye!"_

"_It was nothing. Do you really think I'd do that to you?"_

_Nick paused, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know anymore, Greg. Lately, I've forgotten what you look like, what you smell like; I'm not even sure I remember the last time I woke up next to you."_

_Greg glared at him, hardly believing what he was hearing. "Really Nick, I can't believe you'd be so immature. She's an old friend from college, she came to Vegas for some conference for the job. You know I would never, ever go behind your back like that. Or at least, I thought you knew that. Apparently you don't have much faith in me, Nick. I'm so sorry that my way of saying goodbye to Veronica is not appropriate by your standards. I guess you don't love me as much as you used to. Maybe I don't love you that much either."_

_Both Nick and Greg stood completely still, shocked at what had just been said. Greg took a step towards Nick, ready to apologize, but Nick had just held a hand up. Then came those awful words. The ones that had plagued Greg for three weeks._

Greg sniffed back more tears as he poured his tea and headed to the living room to drown himself in pointless daytime TV until it was time to get ready for work. As he sat through Days of our Lives, As the World Turns and General Hospital, he kept thinking of Nick. The one man he loved so much.

They'd been together for four years. They'd gotten together after the explosion, after Greg nearly died. They'd spent months trying to figure out the feelings both felt, until finally one night, Nick told Greg that he loved him and that was that. The last four years had been the happiest of Greg's life.

The year before, when Nick had been kidnapped and buried alive, Greg thought he'd surely die without Nick. Now, Nick was gone again, and Greg could feel his heart dying with each day he wasn't near the Texan. He missed waking up next to Nick, missed their off days spent lounging about on the couch together. He missed Nick's smile, Nick's laugh, Nick's silky voice singing him to sleep; he missed Nick, plain and simple.

Of course, Nick was right. He hadn't been around much, and the Texan had needed him. He'd become absorbed with his work, staying up late and getting up early to work on endless reports and do research for his novel. Guilt washed over him. How many nights had Nick woken up from a nightmare and found their bed empty? Nick had always been there for Greg after the explosion. Who was Greg to leave Nick alone through that?

Greg realized hours had passed and he now had an hour to get to work. He quickly showered, dressed, and left the house, silently hoping he would see the Texan tonight, even if they didn't share any words.

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It was three hours into shift, and Greg still hadn't seen Nick. He'd left with Warrick on a case in Henderson before Greg had arrived at the lab, and hadn't returned when Greg came back from a breaking and entering. Just his luck.

He sighed as he sat at the break room table, waiting for some results. Sara looked at him with concern.

"Greg? You okay?"

He looked up, and she gasped at the dark circle under his eyes.

"Greg, what the hell is going on? You look like you haven't eaten or slept at all for weeks."

"That would be three weeks, to be exact," he replied sarcastically. Her only response was concern.

"Greg, please tell me what's going on. It isn't just you. Nick has been acting weird too. Did you two fight or something?" Sara's face was etched with worry. He sighed, knowing there was no way out. Besides, Greg needed to talk to someone before he self- destructed. The team already knew about their relationship, so it wasn't like he needed to lie.

"He… He left."

"What?"

"He walked out three weeks ago. We argued over something really stupid, and… I miss him."

Sara took his hand and rubbed it gently. "What was the fight about? Why did Nick leave?"

"He thought I was cheating on him." Greg proceeded to tell her the entire story. By the end, tears were silently making their way down his cheeks. "He said he had never loved me. Can that be true?" He turned sorrowful mocha eyes towards his best friend.

She smiled sadly. "No Greg, he does love you. He's told me so, many times, over the last three weeks."

"Wait, what? You knew all this?"

"He came to me, because he knew I'm your best friend and he knew I'd help him. I told him to give you time, to give himself time. Greg, you know that if he had stayed, it would have only gotten worse."

He could only stare. "Sara…"

"He's on the roof; has been for an hour." Greg looked at her, confused. She laughed and shoved him out of his chair. "Go. Talk. Fix it, Greg." With that, he was gone, without even a thank you. Sara didn't care. The smile that had been gracing his features was enough.

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Greg found Nick standing at the edge of the roof, hands gripping the wall tightly. If Greg hadn't known better, he would have thought that Nick was going to climb over and jump. But Greg did know better.

He silently stood behind the Texan, taking in the sight of him. Same brown hair, same muscles, same broad shoulders. Only this time, they were shaking.

"I know you're there Greg. I know you have been for some time. I'm just not getting' why."

Greg was at a loss for word. Of course Nick would have known he was there. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

Nick spun around and Greg could see the tears on his face glittering in the lights of Las Vegas. "Why are you sorry? You didn't do anythin' wrong. I'm the one that broke your heart, I'm the one that left."

Greg shook his head. "I'm sorry that I can't forget you. I'm sorry I don't want to forget you. I'm sorry that I made you stop loving me."

Nick looked stunned. Greg had taken his words and used them to stab his heart. He couldn't stop the sob that escaped him. "I never, _never_ stopped lovin' you. I never will, G." That was the last straw for Greg. He'd been wishing he could hear that southern drawl say his nickname for weeks, and his prayer had been answered. He walked the three steps between them, grabbed Nick's shirt in two fistfuls and pulled him in for a slow, passionate kiss.

When they pulled apart, both had tears on their cheeks. Greg looked Nick in the eye and spoke softly, but firmly. "I never stopped loving you either, Nicky." Nick pulled Greg to his chest, where Greg's ear rested on his heart.

"Greg, I'm so sorry. I wish I could take back what I said that day. I don't hate you, I love you very much. It's just, seein' you with that girl, I freaked and… I don't know."

Greg slowly traced patterns on Nick's back as he spoke. "Nicky, I love you more than anything, you know that. Do you really think I'd leave you? I'm nothing without you, sweetheart."

"Baby, you're wrong. I'm nothin' without you." He sighed. "I'm still screwed up G. All those nights, I woke up without you there, and I was terrified. I needed you, and you were up workin' or somethin'. I didn't want to bother you." He rested his head atop Greg's, inhaling the scent he had gone without for three weeks. "Then, when I saw Veronica, I found a reason to take out my fear and frustration on you. God Baby, I'm so sorry."

Greg sniffled back his tears, the guilt practically eating away at his heart. "No Nicky, don't be sorry. I deserved to have you mad at me. You needed me, and I wasn't there for you. You were always there for me, always, and I deserted you. I'm so, so sorry. I made you leave, it's my fault." A sudden wave of panic overtook him and he pulled away to look into Nick's chocolate eyes.

"Please don't leave again. These past three weeks have been the hardest of my entire life. They were worse than after the explosion. I'll do anything, Nick, just don't leave me again." Tears were again flowing from his eyes and he felt a sob growing in his throat. "I… I couldn't sleep without you, Nicky. I couldn't eat, couldn't sit through a single TV show, could barely drag myself to work every night. You were always on my mind and… and I… God, I'm so fucking sorry that I screwed us up."

Nick just held him close, letting him cry into his shirt, whispering sweet nothings in his ear. When Greg finally pulled away sometime later, a hiccupping mess, Nick spoke the words he wanted to for three agonizing weeks.

"I want to see your face every day, I want to wake up to that smile of yours. I don't hate you at all, I actually love you more than anythin'. I wish I'd met you sooner, 'cus Baby, you complete my life. I've always loved you, I always will. You're everything to me. Please don't ever forget that. Please don't ever forget me."

He looked into Greg's smiling eyes and kissed him deeply, throwing every ounce of passion he could into the kiss. When they pulled away for air, Greg was smiling, and Nick thought he'd never seen anything more beautiful.

FIN

A/N: So, here it is, second Nick/Greg story. It isn't one of my best. It was one of those write-it-in-one-day-and-publish-it-at-one-am types of things. I had to get this out of me, its self beta'd, all mistakes are mine.

Feel free to review.

Also, in case I didn't make it clear, cus I tend to do that. The last thing Nick says is the opposite of what he first says.


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